This year's Great Plains Athletic Conference tournament will be held at Concorida (NEB) in Seward, Nebraska. Should be an outstanding tournament. Here are my thoughts....
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| 125 lbs |
The favorite to win a GPAC title here at 125 lbs per the rankings is Nathan Rizek of Doane, who started off the season competing at 133 lbs. I am anxious to see him compete against last year's GPAC runner-up Seth I'nama, who isn't the only Charger I can see doing well here at 125 lbs. Freshman Dante Rigal has been having a very respectable freshman season, as he himself was runner-up at a rather tough Dakota Wesleyan Open.
3rd-3rd-3rd-2nd, Briar Cliff's Ca'Ron Watson seems destined and due to finally bring home GPAC gold. He's in a heck of a position to do so. His best year yet, he made the finals of Missouri Valley Invitational & not only does he look poised to win conference, but to also fight for All American honors at the NAIA national tournament. Should be a great semi between Devin Avedissian of Doane & Jarrod Gilliam, a teammate of Watson's.
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| 141 lbs |
Now here's a fun competitive weight class. We have #14 Kyler Adams of Midway looking to win a GPAC title, who placed 8th at the prestigious Missouri Valley Invitational earlier this season. Another candidate for the GPAC title, is last year's finalist, Creighton Baughman of host school Concordia (NEB). He was 4th at the Doane Oppenheim Invitational. Then of course despite not having as good of a season as he was hoping to have, we cannot overlook Taylor Vasquez of Morningside. Vasquez won a GPAC title competing at 133 lbs last year. Very excited to see how this weight class turns out & it's not lost on me that Zach Zitek of Dakota Wesleyan, despite being unranked might pull off an upset. The sophomore shows promise.
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| 149 lbs |
Confident that our GPAC final here will be between last year's runner-up & last year's 3rd place finisher. Nathan Lendt of Doane, who wrestled in high school for one of my freestyle coaches back in the stone age, has proven himself a contender for NAIA All American honors. I don't think he should have any problem securing himself a title here & I don't think Aric Williams should much trouble placing himself as the man Lendt will face in the finals.
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| 157 lbs |
It's all about the Benjamins. No, not really but there really are a lot of people named Ben at this weight class. 157 lbs in my estimation is one of the more competitive and unpredictable weights here in the GPAC. Doane's Ben Miller who placed 4th within his own home Oppenheim Invitational, is our clear favorite via the rankings. Nevertheless, despite being unranked via TheOpenMat, there's still a lot of talent in this bracket.
Noah Styskal, yet another Mustang who's not having the season I thought he would, was a champion here last year. Jake Patterson of Hastings, wrestled quite well at the Missouri Valley Invitational here a while back, finishing one match shy of a top 8 finish at the NAIA's most competitive in-season tournament. Ben Dobler, a teammate of Miller's, I'm sure will be hungry, or should I say hungary, to do well. He was 4th in the GPAC competing at 165 lbs last season. Last but certainly not least is Briar Cliff's Ben Peters, who himself finished 3rd in the GPAC back in '22.
Tough weight.
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| 165 lbs |
Here ladies and gentlemen is most likely our best match of the GPAC finals. A match that I'm looking very, very forward to. Last year's GPAC runner-up, Kaleb Bigelow Vs last year's GPAC 3rd place finisher, Zander Ernst. Despite rankings, it was Ernst who pulled off the 6-3 decision in the dual between Dakota Wesleyan and Morningside. For record, Bigelow won a tough Dakota Wesleyan Open earlier this season as Ernst finished one match shy of a top 8 showing at the Missouri Valley Invitational.
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| 174 lbs |
Here's another competitive weight class with four returning place-winners from last year's GPAC championships. Michael Scarponi of Doane, per ranking is the favorite going into the tournament, but he was 3rd last year, compared to Alex Van Dyke of Morningside who earned last year's title. Lane Miller of Dakota Wesleyan was 4th & Cael Jordan also of Doane was 5th.
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| 184 lbs |
Speaking strictly from a nationalistic standpoint, 184 lbs is arguably the GPAC's best weight class, as I say it is the most likely to produce the most amount of All Americans. As far as I'm concerned, all three of these guys are top 8 NAIA material & I think on any given day, all three could walk out of here conference champions.
Tyson Beauperthuy took some time to find the right fit. From Miday to Grand View to Doane, it's been a journey. Now he's back & he's proven himself through result to once again be one of the best wrestlers in the NAIA nation. He won the Oppenheim Invitational earlier this season.
Hayden Wempen of Morningside won last year's GPAC title & I wouldn't go into this tournament thinking that he's not capable of bringing home another gold medal with a bracket sheet.
As to Luke Jenness of Northwestern (IA), it's been rewarding to see him finally start having the success that he has worked so hard for. He's really having an outstanding season & a recent 4th place finish at the Missouri Valley Invitational is proof of that. He was runner-up here last season.
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| 197 lbs |
The GPAC's only returning All American (3rd) from last year's NAIA tournament, Brad Antesberger of Doane is also a returning conference champion. He's most likely, in all sense of probability going to repeat as champion & it looks fairly promising that he could meet teammate Kasten Grape in the finals. With that said, I wouldn't look past Northwestern's (IA) Kaleb Lind. The Red Raider has performed well at various times in the past & he did make last year's finals.
Rounding out the bracket, I'm anxious to see what Jake Rau of Jamestown might be able to pull off. This has been a rather down year for the Jimmies & getting someone to the national tournament would be a way to salvage an otherwise disappointing season. I also could see some good stuff coming out of Mason Garcia of Concorida (NEB). This does after all, take place on his home mats, in front of his home crowd.
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| HWT |
HWT may very well turn out to be the most interesting of our weight classes here in the GPAC. GPAC runner-up last season, Jakob Jerabek has proven himself to be the forerunner for a title this season, with a very tough Trevion Sample of Dakota Wesleyan waiting in the wings. With all this said, let's keep in mind that Jerabek's teammate, Hunter DeJong, with a win over Jerabek, won last year's GPAC title. Sample recently defeated DeJong in a dual 3-1 s.v.
If that's not enough, keep in mind this bracket also features Alton Allen of Briar Cliff & Eli Criblez of Doane. Both extremely tough HWTs, who both placed at the Missouri Valley Invitational earlier this year (Allen 5th & Criblez 7th). Allen for the record was also 4th here last season.
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